


Klug Drabbles

by Tria101



Series: PP Backstory Drabbles [3]
Category: Puyo Puyo
Genre: Angst, Familial Abuse, Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-04-30 10:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14494836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tria101/pseuds/Tria101
Summary: "Little Klug was quite excited; his birthday was coming up soon. He could vaguely remember birthdays with his parents, mostly the part where he could ask for something and he got it. Aunt June hadn't been much different so far.Sure, she had given what he assumed to be playful jests at his weight, and his meal portions had been steadily getting smaller...but she wouldn't deny him a birthday treat, would she?"Warnings in tags and notes. I suggest reading them before actually reading the rest of the story--Rather than use the word "backstory" here like I do for my other stories in the same collection, I use drabbles because the actual backstory of Klug is given in bits, and the drabbles themselves aren't very well connected. Most are what if events centered around one situation that currently has no "canonical" resolution.Shipping is present in some of the drabbles, but never the main focus.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, deep breath now.  
> This.  
> This collection of drabbles is kinda what I consider to be my "biggest fish" when it comes to the angst I write, and I've been hesitating a lot on it, particularly since it has very little basis in canon. I mean, the idea started out fairly simple, with a particularly uncaring family member being the one that made Klug behave the way he does, and have such a need to be the best he'd keep an obviously pretty dangerous book...  
> ...and then it kinda...spun out of control.
> 
> In case you didn't read the tags, abuse is very much rampant in these drabbles, both mental and physical, but I struggle to write the mental so it may not seem as present...  
> Starvation is another issue.
> 
> Constructive criticism is welcome.

Little Klug was quite excited; his birthday was coming up soon. He could vaguely remember birthdays with his parents, mostly the part where he could ask for something and he got it. Aunt June hadn't been much different so far.  
Sure, she had given what he assumed to be playful jests at his weight, and his meal portions had been steadily getting smaller...but she wouldn't deny him a birthday treat, would she?  
Motivated purely by his stomach, he decided to ask her for his current favorite -- blueberry muffins.  
Sure, he also wanted books and notebooks and pencils...but he always got those. Typically as handouts from the library, since they seemed to like him and his happy lil face a lot, but still.  
Birthdays were something special.

Aunt June never baked. He was aware of that. He told her she could get storebought if she wanted. He just wanted muffins.  
She initially rejected it, laughing him off. But he persisted. He begged and bargained and pleaded...

It was his birthday!  
Not good enough.  
She didn't have to get him anything else this year!  
Of course, he'd just whine about not having any presents later.  
He'd do all the chores!  
He was supposed to do those already.  
He'd do all the cooking!  
Like she could trust him with  _that._  He just wanted to sneak food to stuff into his greedy face, didn't he?  
Klug continued. He volunteered and offered everything he could think of. It didn't seem like she was going to budge...

The day before, she grumbled something he didn't quite catch. But by then, he had given up hope anyway.

...Imagine his surprise when he woke up the next morning and was presented with a plate full of muffins for breakfast.  
They looked plain, which disappointed him slightly, but just having them at all seemed like a godsend. He didn't bother to voice any complaint.  
Instead, he went ahead and took a big bite out of the top of the first one.

...  
 _crunch!_  
He frowned at the noise his mouth made. What on earth was that?  
Knowing better than to just spit out food in front of his aunt, however, he swallowed it down, before trying to tear open the muffin to get a look inside.  
His aunt criticized him for playing with his food - she went through  _all that effort_  to get him something he had been  _whining and crying and harassing_  her for--  
He didn't even really get a good look at what was inside before quickly shoveling it into his mouth, hoping to quiet her. And she did.

But then...a few minutes later, his hands and throat began to itch. It was hard to breath, and the world spun...His chest and stomach hurt...  
It felt like he was going to be sick...  
What happened next felt like a blur. He remembered panic and crying, and Aunt June screaming at him, but he had been in a haze.  
The next thing he knew, he was awake, in the hospital.

His aunt was wailing dramatically to the nurse.  _She_  had no idea how it happened, she was just being a good aunt and getting her poor little nephew the muffins he wanted for his birthday! He didn't have any parents left you know...  
The nurse asked the both of them if he had any allergies.  
Walnuts and pecans, he told her.  
That made sense. At any rate, he was lucky to be alive -- and he shouldn't be trying to eat either of those things ever again. He should know that.  
Klug was amazed at being told this; he wasn't dumb. He knew he wasn't supposed to eat those.  
But he didn't get a chance to tell her. She just turned and walked out, leaving him to his caring aunt's lectures about ruining the floor and not warning him about his allergy.

His parents had told her.  
She forgot.  
He wasn't having muffins ever again either.  
...he couldn't really say that he wanted them ever again, himself.  
And his diet was going to be stricter from now on, since he clearly couldn't handle it himself.  
It was for his own good.

Klug laid back, closing his eyes.  
After a day like today...? He didn't find such a thing unreasonable...  
He didn't have to wind up coming back here again...


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was rather late. The sun had already gone down, but Klug was only just now headed home. In his hand was a lollipop from Lemres that he was only absentmindedly licking at.  
> It was so sweet...  
> To his starving stomach, it was like mana from heaven. He hadn't eaten for a few days now...  
> On top of that, getting sweets from his idol always thrilled him, though he tried not to show it too much. He just couldn't help trying to eat and savor every last bite...

It was rather late. The sun had already gone down, but Klug was only just now headed home. In his hand was a lollipop from Lemres that he was only absentmindedly licking at.  
It was so sweet...  
To his starving stomach, it was like mana from heaven. He hadn't eaten for a few days now...  
On top of that, getting sweets from his idol always thrilled him, though he tried not to show it too much. He just couldn't help trying to eat and savor every last bite...

Soon, he was standing in front of his house, though he stayed back, still lapping at the candy. He'd wait here, he figured, until he had finished the lollipop. There was no better place to hide it than in his belly.

...of course, fate was never that kind...

After a few minutes, just long enough for him to begin zoning out, the door opened.Almost immediately, the treat was snatched from his hand. There was yelling, and yanking on his arm as he was dragged towards the house.  
Though Klug felt fear, he kept his protests minimal. All he had to do was get inside and cough everything up like usual. That would appease her and it'd be fine again--

 _crack!_  
She threw the lollipop to the ground, right before heading inside. He stared at it. Lemres' gift to him, now not only wasted, but on the dirty cobblestone, in pieces too...

Without thinking, he gasped out, "Wh-what're you doing!? You imbecile, the great Lemres gave me that...!!"  
The look he got turned his blood to ice.

He was shoved inside the house, where he was immediately checked for more sweets. As he still had chocolate in his pockets, having been planning a late night snack, she quickly found what she was looking for.  
"Is that why I keep finding you with this crap!?" She demanded, tossing the chocolate in the trash before resuming her search. "Because Lemres keeps giving you it!?  
Why the hell are you taking candy from a grown man anyway!? Do you want to be kidnapped or poisoned!?"

"--Lemres would never--!"

But as her search gave no further results, she stormed off...straight to Klug's room.  
His stomach dropped.  
Nonononono-- By the time he caught up to her, she was already going through everything he owned. And when she spotted even a hint of the comet mage, she tore the object to shreds.

"No!! STOP!!" He rushed to grab her arm, dropping the book he always carried without a second thought. He tried to pull her away, but quickly switched to trying to hit her, hoping he'd somehow manage to preserve his collection. "STOP!!! STOP IT, YOU STUPID COW, MY BOOKS--!!!"

In an instant, he knew he had crossed a line. But it was too late to recover from it...

* * *

The next day...

Rather than go to school, he found a nice, secluded spot in the Ruins, and curled up there, hugging his last remaining book close; the one with the spirit in it. It had been overlooked in the rampage...by some miracle...

...Normally after such an incident, June would force him to stay home. Yet, for some reason, she had decided that she didn't want him around this time, and as such had given him a fake story to explain away his injuries had someone asked...  
Klug wasn't sure how he could be expected to lie like that; even Amitie would likely see through it at this point...

His lip was busted and swollen, there was bruising all along his arms and chest, and he had a black eye, with his other eye being cut where his glasses broke against him.  
The entire night had only given his body time to swell more, rather than less like he had hoped.  
Between that and his single pair of glasses being broken beyond repair, he couldn't bring himself to go to class...

He had no idea what he'd do when he got home...It wouldn't be too hard to pretend he hadn't skipped school...right...?  
 _You are forbidden from seeing this...crackpot Lemres ever again! If you ever even think of his name again, I swear I'll..._

...at least apologizing to Ms Accord was less scary than dealing with his aunt again...That and the book he held close to his chest right now was the only comfort he had left...

* * *

Sometime later, Klug realized he had fallen asleep like that. It had to be late afternoon or very early evening at best...but that wasn't the important thing right now.

No, the important part was that someone had been jabbing him repeatedly in the side, and only now that he was awake did they stop.

"You...four-eyes.  
Who has trampled on you? Why are you here and not in the place you truly belong?"

...he didn't dare look Feli in the face, merely rubbing his aching side in irritation.  
It took enough effort already to not cry...  
Why did she have to bother him so much?

In her mumblings, which he tried to tune out, he caught the word "senpai"...  
...oh right...Lemres...  
She liked him too, didn't she...?

"...Don't worry..." He muttered, not knowing what he was actually responding to "...I'm forbidden from being with Lemres anymore..."

"--hah? But that's...  
Who has taken the light from you, if not me?"

"My aunt..."

There was silence, then...  
"KIEEEEEEEE!"

He startled back, his heart jumping into his throat. "F-Feli, what the--!?"

"Yesssss, I. Can. See. It...!" She said, ignoring him. "Darkness...swallowing you...it shall continue...unless..." A short pause.  
"...that book you hold, give it to me!" She suddenly demanded

"What!?"

"If you refuse to hand it over, then we shall battle for it!"

And thus, and impromptu puyo puyo battle started.  
Exhausted, ill-prepared, and frankly blind as a bat without his glasses...Klug lost easily.

By now, it was officially nighttime. The stars shone bright in the sky...It would be well past time to go home.

"W-wait...!" He gasped out, as Feli took the book away. "Th-that's my last one...the rest were destroyed...!  
Wh-what amI supposed to do without it!?"

"Sleep." She replied, staring him down coldly, but not questioning what he could do with a book he couldn't read anyway. "Invite a different darkness unto you, until light appears instead..."

"That doesn't make any sense...!"

Uncaring, she turned and power-walked away, leaving him to finally begin crying, believing he had truly lost everything now...  
Yet...  
Once she was sure she was out of any form of sight, Feli broke into a run, heading back to her own home with a mission.

She had some cursing to do...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was actually the first drabble I wrote around the idea of Klug having an abusive relative, and I wound up adding a small chunk to make it fit in better with the other drabbles.  
> Feli saving Klug in these incidents is actually really, really...common >////> For some reason, I just really like the idea of these two once enemies getting along in the end, though I guess it helps that I can't see Feli as being actually heartless towards Klug. She strikes me as someone who is more bark than bite, and when she does bite, there's no fluff or showboating for it.
> 
> On a side note, both Feli and Sig's speech patterns turned out oddly when I tried to write them, in that I tried to mimic canon, but somehow flanderized it. Or, at least, that's how it feels to me.  
> Sig's side of things will get more apparent if I post more stories with him, but you might already be able to see the signs with Feli.  
> I'm working on pulling it back, but I shan't change the things I've already written, especially since so many of them are what ifs.
> 
> Lessee, what else...  
> There isn't an actual ending to this particular drabble; right now, this is where it ends. Some are longer than others, but most of them tend to wind up this open-ended. That's...a really bad habit of mine, which I'm hoping that posting my writings will help end. We'll see what happens, I guess...


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Klug took a deep, shuddering breath as he stared up at his own home. His aunt would be furious he hadn't returned last night -- she'd know he had gone to the sleepover even though she had explicitly forbidden it. He was going to be in so much trouble...  
> He was scared..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so this one takes place after I kind of...went nuts with Aunt June and things started spiraling out of control.  
> There's some swearing, and more violence than in previous chapters. Read with caution!

Klug took a deep, shuddering breath as he stared up at his own home. His aunt would be furious he hadn't returned last night -- she'd _know_  he had gone to the sleepover even though she had explicitly forbidden it. He was going to be in so much trouble...  
He was scared...  
...but he had to go. There was nothing else he could do. It wasn't like he could go crawling back to any of his friends for help after trying to pretend so hard that things were going to be okay. And he had went to the sleepover, fully aware that he'd be awaiting punishment to begin with...

There was no backing down now.

Slowly, he headed inside, not even bothering to knock on the door...  
Not that he needed to.

The screaming started almost instantly once June saw who had walked in.  
She knew where he had been. How dare he disobey her. He must have been slacking off. Ignoring his homework. Lazing about. He must have had a feast too, and stuffed his greedy little face full of candy and cake.  
She wanted him to puke it all up. Everything. He couldn't tell her otherwise - she wouldn't listen. It only earned him a _hard_  slap across the face.

Even after he did as she wanted, it didn't end there.  
He got a full body search for any hidden treats, which he, thankfully, had already all eaten, so she had no idea he had any to begin with. He at least escaped further punishment on that end.  
But he was still berated. He was still hit a few more times.

He was still grounded.

From past experience, Klug wasn't too sure if others were grounded quite the same way as him, but he knew what it'd entail. And it was something he had worked especially hard to avoid after school started, because he couldn't know if she'd force him to miss school or not.  
This, as he knew it, meant he wouldn't be able to leave a room chosen for him, much less go outside. Typically, he was forced to either stay in June's room, or clean out his own of any and all objects he could possibly use for entertainment. He was to not speak, nor make any noise or movements beyond the tiniest of twitches, and even that tended to get him yelled at if he had to stay in her room. He could leave to use the restroom, but, otherwise, he was to pretend he was a statue. He _was_  allowed water, if only a minimal amount of it. And she'd keep track of how much he drank, or so she threatened. Whether or not she was serious about forcing him to go without it, he wouldn't know, he never tested it. He learned from a young age to ration anything he was allowed from her.  
Honestly, he wasn't sure how he survived intact before, but...

...regardless, thankfully, she was merciful this time.  
He wasn't sure if she saw it that way, but he cleaned out his entire room, hiding the Book of Sealing in a spot he knew she wouldn't check, and let her do her whole run-through of it.  
She approved it, and he retreated inside.  
She never mentioned how long the grounding would go. He didn't ask.

Once he felt he was safe, he pulled the book out and hugged it close.  
However long this was kept at, it would definitely be a difficult ride, with literally nothing but thoughts to accompany him...  
Even the spirit's comments could be seen as naught more than thoughts this way...

* * *

The second day...

As expected, there was nothing to do. June only checked on him once in the morning to make sure he was still there and hadn't run off in the night. As if he was stupid enough to do something like that...  
He shuddered to think of what she'd do to him in that case.

Left with nothing else to do, he rolled onto his belly and read the Book of Sealing, as if he hadn't already memorized the contents.

 _Sealed within this book is a ‘Demon’._  
 _Under no circumstances should this seal ever be undone._  
He stuck his tongue out. He had already tried that once, in the name of gaining more power. It hadn't really worked, but it almost meant the book was basically useless at this point.  
The seal was broken, permanently, to his knowledge.  
This warning was useless to him. Though, in general, he thought pretty lowly of the person who had previously wrote in the book anyway.  
 _-Dedicated to the inhabitants of the future land of Arca  
_ _on the day the Moonsunflowers bloom-_  
Arca...  
That was something he vaguely remembered reading about. But not well enough to know what it was offhand, other than, likely, something that didn't really exist any longer.  
How sad for this person.

But he continued to read through, actually feeling somewhat bad for the spirit, since his sealing seemed to be unjust. Perhaps the past was just a much more closed minded place.  
Klug himself couldn't fathom being so cruel to a fellow book lover, though, now, there wasn't much of anything that could be done...

He stared at the smuged words where the person he affectionately thought of as "past asshole"'s writings ended, idly poking them.  
There were a couple of blank pages past that. Sometimes, he considered writing something in them, himself, but he always managed repress the desire by rationalizing that the spirit wouldn't like it.  
...Right now he couldn't do it because he had nothing to write with.

He closed the book now that he was done rereading it, but he already knew not much time had passed. Aside from the book itself being quite short, he could sort of judge based on the shadows from under the door to his room -- he had to. He had no windows nor clocks in his bedroom.  
To his memory, when June had come in possession of him, rather than add a new, actual room to her house, she just shoved a bed into a small storage room she hadn't been using.  
...the bed aside, it felt even smaller with all of his books, and the desk.  
The posters that should have been on the wall actually served to make him feel less trapped at night. But now they were gone. He wouldn't be allowed to have them until his grounding was over.

At some point, he had slid off of his bed, and went to crawl under the bed instead.  
He didn't fit quite as well as he used to when he was small, but it was the only way he felt safe in such a tight, enclosed space.  
It was the difference between being trapped in a room with the monster and night terrors he had dealt with for years, and being able to hide from them until the bloodlust went away.  
Of course, somehow, hugging the Book of Sealing close to his body always made him feel safer too. But in that case, he wasn't wholly sure why, as the spirit inside could do nothing to protect him, and Klug himself would never use a book as a weapon or anything...

...Of course...much like the bed, the spirit had become a constant for him. And on top of that, even being in the book instead of the spirit wasn't all that a scary experience for him. Surreal and worrying, but not exactly...scary.  
In this case, it might have even been comforting. Another, tinier hiding spot, to match how small he felt when things really got heated around his home...  
...  
If...he was in the book...and under the bed...would he feel doubly safe...? If the spirit held him close, even moreso? Would he actually feel content? Without the constant anxiety in the back of his mind that Aunt June would come storming in at any moment to scream at him some more. Like she had found something else objectionable in his things, or just his mere existence...

...He couldn't bring himself to try it, though. He couldn't...fathom ever giving the spirit a chance to hurt his aunt...  
She had her reasons...she cared for him...didn't she...?  
He couldn't...repay all of her hard work, putting up with how stubborn and disobedient he was, by having her possibly harmed or worse...

* * *

On the third day, Klug only belatedly realized that he had fallen asleep under the bed.

He awoke to the sounds of angry screaming, accidentally bumping his head against the bed, before being dragged out by his legs.

There was more yelling. Klug desperately trying to explain himself despite it.  
She was convinced he was trying to hide from her, to make her think he had run away.  
Admittedly, that wasn't _too_  far off the mark, but...it went further than that with June. Everything did. She continued making wild, baseless accusations...  
He tried to defend himself, though he already knew there was no point. She'd escalate it on her own, and in the end--

...he woke up again sometime quite late.  
His memories of how he wound up unconscious were fuzzy. His head was pounding and something warm and wet ran down his face, his nose and lips ached. His hand hurt quite a bit too...  
It only dimly occurred to him that there were shards of glass in his face, and only because he realized that his glasses were broken.  
 _I wonder if I could just use magic to make my eyes better..._  He thought to himself, already far disconnected from his body's actions and feelings. There was no point to worrying about them.  
Though his eye really hurt too...and it was harder to see than usual...  
It was painful to try and blink as well...

He poked his head out of his room cautiously, but it didn't seem like June was there. She must have already gone off to bed...

He felt around, getting himself to the bathroom, and going about removing the glass...  
...and in the middle of the act, realizing there was a small shard jutting into the eye he couldn't see from. There was already so much pain that he was so accustomed to that he had completely disregarded it until his finger brushed against it.

Klug wouldn't allow himself to panic, though. Not right now. It wasn't the time.  
He carefully pulled the shard out, and did very, very minor, cautious checks to make sure there was nothing else, by waving his finger over the area and cautiously blinking. The only thing that hurt was the already present wound.

...there had to be a way to fix this.

He couldn't read anything like this. He couldn't go out and get help. And Aunt June...certainly wasn't going to be sympathetic.  
Racking his brain, he came up with a spell he had read about before that was meant to heal minor injuries. He had disregarded it then as he deemed it too weak and unimpressive, but now...  
Agh, what were the words again...?

...  
By the time he finally got it down, and managed to heal his eye to an acceptable degree, the sun had just barely begun to rise. Though it was still hard to see, he could still tell that various swellings and bruises had begun to form.  
Especially on his injured hand, which he struggled to move without pain...

All he could do now was wash himself, quickly and quietly, and hope the rest of his injuries weren't quite so bad...

* * *

He hadn't even slept when June arrived on the fourth day, but he doubted she noticed or cared.

She walked in, saw he was there, and walked out.  
His body still ached and some parts, particularly his eye, itched.

All the same, he laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He was still reeling from earlier. He wanted to cry...but forbid himself from doing so.  
He knew better than that.  
That's not what _strong_  people did. That's not what the greatest mage in the world did.  
It's not something June would approve of...or allow.

For once, despite a growing craving for comfort, he didn't touch the Book of Sealing. He left it in its hiding spot. His lack of desire to hear the spirit lecture him, or try to convince him to switch places, or the like, outweighed his need to hold something, if only just barely.

Briefly, he entertained the idea that he'd go and shatter some glass into _her_  eyes, just to see what happened.  
He spent the rest of his time berating himself for such a thought, until Aunt June opened the door again, and threw something at his head.

Upon examination, the "something" was a case, which held a new pair of glasses.

Klug knew better than to assume this was an act of guilt or anything of the sort. It was to make him less useless.  
That was all she ever wanted from him.  
To not be useless.

He carefully put them on, taking a look around.

...He wouldn't be useless. He would do everything in his power to be the _absolute best_  like she wanted.  
Then, maybe...he wouldn't _have_  to be so scared all the time, even in his own room...  
Maybe she'd even show some sort of approval towards him...for once...

But until then...  
He decided he'd assess the damage to his eye a bit better.

Klug went and grabbed the book, trying to block out any voice that came to mind...though it hurt quite a bit to use his injured hand. Even just to move it.  
He carefully opened the tome up to a random page, and tried to read. With both eyes, one eye, then the other eye...

...As he more or less expected...  
The one he had to heal was blurrier than the other. In a way his glasses couldn't correct.  
It wouldn't be a big deal, though, he supposed, as long as nothing too important got on that side of him. Then it may be a little bit of an issue...

Upon closing the book and putting it aside, he laid back down and finally looked at his hand.  
It had nasty bruises where he could only assume June had stopped on it, and was swelled pretty badly. It didn't appear _broken_ , exactly, nor did it feel like it, but only time would tell at this point. He didn't even really know how to judge if it was...He certainly wasn't going to be able to get himself to a doctor's either...  
Not even get himself to seriously consider it...  
Even if he could go, to do so would be akin to admitting that there was something seriously wrong with him. And there wasn't.  
Then there'd probably be a ton of tough questions he wouldn't be able to answer properly.  
He knew that his aunt hurting him like this was wrong. But he was sure it wasn't too bad - he had just freaked her out, and she responded as such. She just wasn't all together mentally, and it was his fault for forgetting that, even unintentionally.

That's what she told him anyway. And so far, he couldn't see her as being wrong. Nothing she had ever said before was wrong.  
That's what she always told him...

* * *

Day five...

Klug awoke without much fanfare. He couldn't know how late in the day it was, or if June had checked up on him yet or not. It was a mere case of _oh, I'm awake_  and _oh, I fell asleep.._.  
The truly unfortunate part was how much his body still ached, and how groggy he felt. It was impossible to tell if he had over or underslept...so did he need to sleep more, or stay awake...?

Deciding he'd have to risk a peek outside to get his bearings, he slowly rolled out of bed, stumbling over to the door.  
It was easy enough to quietly open the door. The only issue was if he was spotted peeking out...but...he couldn't see June at all. It was nice and bright out, at least...  
Had she left the house?  
He carefully stepped out of the room, heading into the kitchen. She wasn't there either, but it meant he was free to take a few gulps of water, which tasted far better than it had any right to. He briefly considered trying to steal some chocolate while he had the chance...yet, he convinced himself to simply head back into his room. He couldn't risk it, could he?  
There was no way to tell if June would catch him or not...

He couldn't risk angering her further. If he did, then she might really and truly try to actually...  
...no, no, he couldn't think like that. Family didn't go that far, family loved each other, and they _were_  family, weren't they? At least, from his mother's side anyway...

He crawled back into bed, initially planning to maybe grab the book and talk to the spirit some while he had the chance...  
Only...  
His eyes were heavier than he thought they'd be. And he still felt exhausted...and ill...

* * *

Warmth. That was one of Klug's earliest memories.

Being in his mother's arms...  
He was crying. He had fallen and scraped his knee. It stung so much...

He remembered his father looking it over. _hmmmm...yep. Looks like we're going to have to amputate it._  
That actually gave Klug pause, as he couldn't tell if the other was being serious - until father booped his nose, and got his knee cleaned up.  
They put a bandaid over it. When Klug carefully got back up to try walking again, despite the pain, father called him a 'brave little trooper' and ruffled his hair. He couldn't help but giggle at that.

Back then...his hair was always all sorts of messy. Father's affectionate gestures aside, mother liked teasing him by wetting her hands and making it stick up in weird places.  
He could remember trying to get his 'revenge' once, only for her to startle awake while he was doing it. They wound up clonking their heads together, and Klug 'expertly' pretended like he was just trying to sneak in snuggles. And his hands were _totally_  wet just because he had washed them. Definitely not because he was going to mess with mother's hair while she slept, nope.

But beyond these happy times...

He remembered something...  
Something he tried so hard to bury...  
He knew it had happened...but after all of his efforts, the details were distorted...

One moment, they were happy as usual, playing and practicing magic...  
The next...  
He was crying, all alone...  
...but he couldn't...stay alone...  
He needed to go live with someone...  
And thus, wound up going to Primp Town...  
Where his aunt lived...

...  
Klug startled awake from his dream, feeling distinctly like he couldn't breath.  
It took perhaps a little too long for him to realize that he had begun to panic and sob in his sleep, which had only briefly kept him from inhaling properly. Now that he was awake, he could force himself to take in air and exhale again like a normal person.

He sat up, wiping his tears away.  
His mother and father...he had only fuzzy memories of them now. But he still sorely missed them...  
Even when he only knew them so long ago, he couldn't forget them. He couldn't forget the warmth and comfort they provided, or how he felt back then. Like nothing bad or wrong could ever happen. Pain was temporary, and it was fine to not expect or prepare for it...  
But he couldn't forget that they were dead either. Even as his recollection of the event warped into something he couldn't understand - perhaps he had no idea back then either - it was unmistakable that they had passed.  
He had seen it with his own eyes, after all...

Feeling distinctly more awake, he felt at his hair. Due to him sleeping so much, it was more messy than usual, but it still laid down fairly flat. Flatter than it used to anyway.  
He looked down at his hands again, but if the swelling had gone down on the injured one, it was only just so. He couldn't really tell if it was healing or getting worse...

He laid back down, staring at the ceiling.  
He couldn't go out like this. It'd be obvious he had been crying, right? He couldn't bear for his aunt to mock him on top of everything else...  
Let alone start yelling again.  
He couldn't handle that...

Slowly, he located the Book of Sealing and held it close again, hoping to soothe his stress. The spirit's attempts to force-possess him were unhelpful...but ignorable.  
He rolled onto his stomach, keeping the book under him. Not the most comfortable of positions, but it'd help hide his favorite possession in case Aunt June came in for a surprise look to make sure he was still behaving. He wouldn't be able to bear having it taken away from his as well...

...He'd just...stay like this for a bit...  
At least until...he felt better...

* * *

The next day, Klug was allowed to put his items back in his room. He couldn't go outside nor go to school, but he was semi-ungrounded.

It took a lot of effort to move everything without showing the weakness he felt. He was dizzy and nauseas...  
It felt like he'd puke again, but there was nothing left in his stomach for such a thing.

As he finally finished moving everything, however, he collapsed in the middle of the room.  
His heart was beating oddly in his ears, and again it felt like he couldn't breath...except, this time, it was more like his chest was being constricted. He was trying, but his body wouldn't _let_  him take in air.

After a terrifying few moments that felt like an eternity, he finally inhaled. His heart still beat hard in his ears, and he could feel it through his chest. But he wasn't going to suffocate.  
That woke him right up, however.

He carefully got to his feet, going to sit on his bed again.  
He was surrounded with his books now...  
...did he have anything in the medical field...? He couldn't be quite so sure...  
Taking a deep breath, Klug decided to pour over each tome he had. He still felt sick, and it took every bit of energy he still had just to get up and try rummaging through them...but there _had_  to be something here.  
He'd have to find a way to self-treat, since there was no way for him to get any real help...  
...or so he thought...

As he was going through each book, he couldn't help but jump in fright when June suddenly opened the door.  
Someone was here. She said she wanted to borrow a book from him.  
Confused, Klug went on over...and became even more confused to see Feli standing there.

She stared, looking at his injuries with a seemingly unconcerned expression, as June spun a lie about how he got them. Klug had no choice but to agree with every word his aunt said, before finally asking her which book she wanted, exactly.  
Feli invited herself in, and they wound up going back to his room to choose one...

But as he sorted through them, just to read off the titles, he slowly became aware a few were missing...  
When did that happen? He was sure he had gotten everything back...

...That's when Feli sprang it on him that she wanted the Book of Sealing.

Obviously, he refused...but his refusals were immediately countered with a challenge. A puyo battle.  
Exhausted and weak, though he felt he had no choice but to accept, he still lost rather quickly.

Feli took her prize, telling him something cryptic his tired, underfed brain couldn't be bothered to remember. And thus, he was left even more alone than he had been the past few days...

With nothing better to do, he tried to go back to his books...  
However...  
Before he knew it...  
His eyes were heavy again...  
And he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, sitting in that same spot...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I figured I'd post this one before I got into the chapters that REALLY involve Feli...and shipping. The last one might have had more of her, but you'll notice both chapters end with her taking the Book of Sealing away from Klug; this isn't from malicious intent or her mistaking what's hurting Klug or anything. She has plans to help him, but for some reason, for these two drabbles, I decided she needed the spirit in the book to assist her and she'd know that because...divination, I guess?  
> Never really thought that through I suppose.
> 
> After this, I've still got a couple more drabbles, but I believe the rest are essentially two-parters, and they also are in different "timelines"/"universes" to the rest of them. I do have a two-parter that you could consider to not be an alternate universe, but I'm contemplating actually doing that one because it kind of...has an FC that serves as nothing but a plot device in it. Which is usually a mark of bad fiction.  
> Bweh...


End file.
